News Snapshot:
The top defense and foreign policy officials from the United States met with their Japanese counterparts on Wednesday to further strengthen ties and step up contingency planning to forestall a potential conflict with China. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada of Japan in Washington, D.C., for so-called "2+2" talks that reaffirmed alignment on issues of mutual concern, beginning with missile threats from North Korea and Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine in the near term, to the volatile balance across the Taiwan Strait. The officials agreed...
